Many of you must have heard the word âDropshippingâ. Your friends must have been telling you again and again. Many other people must be talking about it around you. But you have no idea what they were talking about. So let’s face it.
According to a report 27% of online retailers have adopted dropshipping. We will tell you about dropshipping which can be an amazing business opportunity for you. If not, it will still be better to know about this term. Before getting directly to how dropshipping works, we will be knowing what it is.
Dropshipping is a supply chain management system. In dropshipping, the retailer does not necessarily keep the stock of the good every time. The product is delivered to the customer directly from the wholesaler. People say it is investment free and you can make so much money from it. Yes, it is true, but it cannot give long-term success. There are many apps and websites available which can let you earn for free. But, if they are free, then there must be a big crowd of people who are doing it. And very few unique niches left when there is that much competition. So, I would suggest you create a website and raise your own business to the sky.
How Dropshipping Works?
How Dropshipping Works
Dropshipping is not that tough to understand that you think you it is. Take an example of C (customer), R (retailer) and W (wholesaler). C visits the website of R, which is R.com. C sees an amazing watch for Rs. 1000 and he immediately click at the âbuy nowâ option. After filling details, he gets an email that the watch will be shipped in the next 4 or 5 days. Now, letâs go to R. R receives the order and the payment. He just informs about it to W and pays him Rs. 600 for that watch. W gets to know about the order C just made. He prepares the watch to supply it to C. C gets his watch, R gets his profit and W gets his money too. Everyone is happy. Do you see? R is making money out of nothing. He just took Câs money and bought the watch from W and made a profit. This is what Dropshipping is. But remember, it is not that simple as it seems in the example above. You have to work your butts off in making the strategy to make a profit.
Why Customers Donât Go Directly To âWâ?
What is Dropshipping
I know you must be thinking how stupid that customer is. Customers can directly go to wholesalers’ websites and order directly from there and get an amazing discount. But just imagine, you are in a Facebook group of around 6,00,000 people. Many people post good reviews of the products the admin posts in the group or on his website. Will you go for this man? Or will you directly go to some Chinese wholesaler website and buy from it. You know nothing about that Chinese company. So definitely, it will be so insane to buy from that website. However, on the other hand, you buy that product from that groupâs admin. In case, there is something wrong, you can contact him or post in the group at least. But there will be no one to hear you out on that wholesaler’s website. That is why people buy from the retailers rather than buying directly from the wholesaler.
Benefits Of Running A Dropshipping Business
There are many advantages to the dropshipping business. Some main of them are:
1. You can run your business from anywhere in the world. All you have to have is your laptop, your phone and internet access.
2. It is a mobile business because you donât have to worry about inventory and warehouse management. So, you donât have to spend money on those investments.
3. There will be no headache for the leftover stock as you donât own any stock at all.
4. You can easily try a new product without buying it if you want to. All you have to find is the supplier.
5. The shipping takes less time as the product is shipped directly from the wholesaler to the customer. Speaking of which, the retailer also saves so much time as they do not have to manage the products physically.
1. A lot of competition makes it difficult to sell a product. Even if your quality is good, you canât expect too many customers. Unless you are selling a unique product.
2. You might have to suffer the low margin. As the supplier is doing most of the work, they may ask you for much more money than you expected.
3. You need to have good networks. Although there are many dropshipping suppliers available online, you canât believe what they are saying.
4. There is no point in your dropshipping business unless you have a good brand identity. If no one knows you, no one will come to you. So you will have to work on building a brand.
5. You can experience times when your supplier will just raise both hands and say I donât have the stock. In those cases, you can’t say anything but find other suppliers.
Yes, you can start dropshiping on 2020. But the competition is much higher than before. Hence, If you want to do a dropshipping business, please do deep research on this topic first. Furthermore, meet people who are already doing it and also those who have failed in it. Also do the product research and find best products for dropshipping in 2020. Donât think it’s easy to do this. Moreover, if you want to play it safe, go for free ways to do it. Go for Shopify 14 days free trial and sign up to Oberlo. This would give you a basic idea of how it works. But do not expect much from it. If you fail to make money from this method, that doesnât mean it doesnât work. Try building a brand or a Facebook page with many followers.
Conclusion
The dropshipping business can be started with very little investment. But that doesnât make it is an easy job. Every work in this world is equally hard. Only an intelligent person makes it easy to do. And intelligence comes from experience. Do dropshipping but also expect failure and loss from it. Learn to make a smart move in this field. Moreover, always have a backup in this business as your supplier can take his step back anytime.
This was our overview of dropshipping which also covered how dropshipping works.Share this post with all those friends who always keep annoying you by telling about easy business ideas. And let them know what a real business is?
FAQs
How do Dropshippers make money?
Dropshipping businesses act as product curators, selecting the right mix of products to market to customers. Remember, marketing is a cost you incur, in both time and money, helping potential customers find, evaluate, and buy the right product.
How much do I need to invest to start Dropshipping?
Though it’s hard to predict the exact costs for any individual business, there are a few items every dropshipping business will need to spend money on in order to get started.
Is Dropshipping a legitimate business?
Dropshipping is merely a fulfillment model, one used by many global retailers, and is perfectly legal. Like with any business, satisfying customer expectations and building a brand that resonates with the right audience is still key to long-term success.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved byGojek.
While Indonesia’s digital economy is predicted to rise to $124 billion by 2025, according to a 2020 research by Google, Temasek Holdings, and Bain & Company, the country’s 18,000 islands are spread across a region larger than the European Union, making it highly costly.
As rivals bulk up in the fast-expanding market, Indonesian ride-hailing and payments provider Gojek and e-commerce leader Tokopedia are merging to form GoTo, a multi-billion dollar internet corporation. Gojek, based in Jakarta, is an Indonesian on-demand multi-service and electronic payment tech company.
As of May 2021, Indonesian ride-hailing and payments provider Gojek and e-commerce leader Tokopedia are merging to form GoTo, a multi-billion dollar internet corporation.
The merged company will be Southeast Asia’s largest privately-owned technology enterprise, spanning online shopping, courier services, ride-hailing, food delivery, and other services. By the end of 2021, it intends to go public in Indonesia and the USA. The firms claimed in a joint statement that their previous aggregate worth was $18 billion, based on fundraising in 2019 and early 2020.
The combination of Gojek and Tokopedia, both of which are backed by global heavyweight investors, comes amid increased competition in Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing and food-delivery businesses. Food delivery, e-commerce, and e-payments are all on the rise as a result of the pandemic’s forced confinement.
About Gojek and How it Works?
Gojek (also known as Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa) is a company that creates on-demand smartphone apps for ride-hailing and a number of other services. The company’s app offers services such as transportation and logistics, food ordering and delivery, digital payment, shopping, news, and entertainment, among others, allowing customers to access travel, logistical support, and a variety of other activities with only a few taps on their smartphones.
Gojek started out as a call center in Indonesia in 2010, connecting customers with courier delivery and two-wheeled ride-hailing businesses. GoRide, GoSend, GoShop, and GoFood were the only 4 services available when the app was first released in 2015.
Gojek, which is now valued at $10 billion, has evolved into a super app that offers over 20 different services. GO-Academy, a software development training program, is also part of the corporation.
Gojek – Name, Logo and Tagline
Because the company’s name is derived from the Indonesian word Ojek, which means “motorbike,” the online service’s first logo portrayed a man riding a motorbike.
Gojek’ s Company logo
Michaelangelo Moran, the co-founder, is also noted for designing the firm’s first distinctive logo and branding the entire company, in addition to working as the business’s Brand Director.
Gojek introduced its new company logo on July 22, 2019. Gojek’s s new brand logo, dubbed “Solv,” symbolizes the company’s evolution from a ride-hailing service to a super app that offers a number of clever methods to minimize difficulties.
The Gojek brand was introduced with the tagline ‘Cerdikiawan.’ Cerdik connotes dexterity and a positive sense of time. It reflects, according to the creators, how the company solves problems for Indonesia despite the challenges it faces.
Gojek – Mission and Vision
Gojek’ s mission statement states, “Gojek is dedicated to creating and scaling up positive socio-economic impact on the ecosystem of users, driver-partners, business and micro-small-medium enterprise partners, as well as service providers.“
Gojek – Founder and History
Founded in 2010 with 20 motorcycle riders, the company now has a fleet of over 1 million drivers and, as of May 2018, offers 18 app-based on-demand services. The Gojek app was released in January 2015, and it has approximately 30 million downloads in less than two years. Gojek has teamed up with DBS, Singapore’s largest bank.
Nadiem Makarim – Co-founder of Gojek
Nadiem Makarim, Kevin Aluwi and Michaelangelo Moran co-founded the company Gojek. Nadiem holds degrees from Brown University and Harvard Business School and is an Indonesian native. He spent three years at McKinsey and Co-consulting before founding Gojek, which began as a small phone center with just 20 ojek drivers who ultimately became recruiters.
Nadiem noticed as a frequent ojek user that ojek drivers spend the majority of their time waiting for passengers, while clients waste time walking around looking for an open ojek. Gojek was created to address this issue by creating a platform that allows drivers and riders to connect quickly and earn more money.
Gojek’ s edge in negotiating the local regulatory framework and understanding the local market stemmed from the fact that it was founded and controlled by Indonesians. As a result, they were able to include features in their app that benefit both local drivers and local consumers. In 2017, Gojek brought on board 100 additional engineering graduates from India.
Gojek – Products
Go-Pay is the fourth largest e-wallet service in Indonesia.
GoRide is Indonesia’s first online motorbike taxi service.
Go-Car is a car ride-hailing service.
Customers can use the Go-Blue Bird app to request Blue Bird cabs.
GoFood is an instant meal delivery service in Indonesia with over 250,000 merchants. Go-Food Festival is a Go-Food-branded offline food-court concept that sells food and beverages from Go-Food vendors.
Go-Mart is an app that allows you to shop for groceries at supermarkets that are listed in the Gojek app.
Go-Shop, like Go-Mart, allows users to buy items from stores that aren’t listed in Go-Mart.
Go-Transmit is an on-demand courier service that allows you to send things and documents inside a single delivery zone with no distance restrictions.
For moving heavy products utilizing pickup trucks, single-axle trucks, and single-axle box trucks, Go-Box is identical to Go-Send.
Go-Tix is a mobile app that sells entertainment tickets.
Go-Med is a mobile app that offers a medication delivery service, has teamed up with HaloDoc to develop the âApotik Antarâ functionality.
Customers can request a personal masseuse with Go-Massage.
Go-Clean is a professional house cleaning service that operates through an app.
Go-Glam is a personal hairdresser app that also offers nail care, waxing, and facial services.
Go-Auto is an app-based auto maintenance service that includes car cleaning and emergency repairs.
Go-Pulsa is a phone credit top-up service that operates through an app. Only
Go-Pay can be used to pay for Go-Pulsa.
Go-Bills is a service that allows you to pay your PLN electricity bills, buy PLN electricity tokens, and pay your BPJS insurance premiums all in one place.
Gojek’s loyalty program is called Go-Points. Each transaction earns the user a token, which they can exchange for prizes in the app.
Go-Play & Go-Studio: The company announced plans to enter the Internet content market through Go-Play, a video streaming service, and Go-Studio, a production firm. In September of this year, GoPlay will formally start its service.
Go-Pertamina is an on-demand fuel delivery service in conjunction with Pertamina, Indonesia’s largest oil company. It delivers fuel from the nearest Pertamina gas station to users.
Go-Nearby is a directory service that connects Go-Food merchants with clients of Go-Jek.
Gojek – Business Model
The Gojek business model works on:
Commissions from Companies – Several businesses join Gojek in order to benefit from its seamless operation and increased sales. Gojek, in turn, takes a modest commission on each successful order placed through the app.
The consumers’ commission – Gojek is a one-stop shop for its customers, offering a convenient answer to a wide range of issues. It avoids the hassle of having to switch between apps to meet various demands. Gojek also charges a little price on each order for this service, which users are happy to pay in exchange for Gojek’ s convenient and trustworthy services.
The Drivers’ Commission – For each order they deliver, individual drivers or delivery partners with Gojek pay a tiny commission to the platform. Given the benefits that the platform provides to drivers, a tiny commission fee seems like a good deal.
Gojek’ s adventure has been incredible. Over the last few years, the startup has experienced significant growth.
Gojek reported that the value of its annualized gross transaction value in 2020 will be USD 12 billion, up 10% from 2019. The year 2020 saw an almost threefold increase in GoPay transactions and the pay-later services.
âWhat is suddenly booming is our online investment feature, probably because people find it easy to access,â said Gojekâs co-CEO Andre Soelistyo.
The company’s grocery service showed a fivefold spike in annualized GTV, indicating that more people are relying on it for shopping during the pandemic. The number of merchants registered with GoFood surged by 80% to 900,000. This year, Gojek did not reveal which vertical contributed the most to its revenue.
Gojek – Partnerships
It established a partnership with Blue Bird, a large Indonesian taxi firm, in 2016. It also launched Go-Car, which expanded ride-hailing from motorcycles to vehicles, and Go-Auto, which provides on-demand mechanic services, in the same year. It was Indonesia’s first online transportation system by August 2016.
It teamed with Google Maps to handle their GPS. Entertainment, Google Play, and MNC Vision are among the other collaborations. Suzuki Finance Indonesia, AEON Credit Service, and Bill Payment PLN, the national electricity supplier, and BPJS Kesehatan, the national health insurance provider.
Gojek is teaming up with Unilever in September 2020. Gojek has partnered with Unilever through the freshly launched GoToko as part of this relationship. GoToko is a B2B digital platform that connects Indonesian MSMEs with global consumer products corporations.
Gojek – Funding and Investors
Date
Round
Amount
Lead Investors
May 10, 2021
Corporate Round
$300M
Telkomsel
Nov 17, 2020
Corporate Round
$150M
Telkomsel
Jun 3, 2020
Series F
$375M
Facebook, PayPal
Mar 10, 2020
Series F
$1.2B
Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Visa
Mar 4, 2019
Series F
$100M
PT. Astra International Tbk
Oct 30, 2018
Series F
$920M
Google, JD.com, Tencent
Feb 12, 2018
Series E
$1.5B
Tencent
Aug 4, 2017
Series E
–
–
Aug 4, 2016
Series D
$550M
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Warburg Pincus
Apr 1, 2016
Series C
$170M
–
Gojek – Investments
Date
Organization Name
Round
Amount
May 12, 2021
MPPA
Post-IPO Secondary
IDR144.9B
Mar 9, 2021
LinkAja
Series B
–
Dec 18, 2020
Jago
Post IPO-Equity
$160M
Feb 17, 2020
Blue Bird Group
Corporate Round
$30M
Jan 29, 2020
ZULU
Corporate Round
–
Jul 1, 2019
rebel Foods
Series D
$125M
May 7, 2019
Safeboda
Series B
–
Feb 3, 2019
JD.ID
Venture Round
–
Oct 31, 2018
escapex
Funding Round
–
Aug 10, 2018
PasarPolis
Series A
–
Gojek – Acquisitions
Acquiree Name
About Acquiree
Date
Amount
WePay
WePay is an online payments services provider.
Sep 14, 2020
–
Moka
Moka is an Indonesian fintech startup that focuses on building mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) for small and medium businesses.
Apr 20, 2020
$130M
AirCTO
AirCTO is an AI-powered recruitment platform that helps companies recruit top developers.
Jun 12, 2019
–
Coins.ph
Coins.ph delivers financial services over mobile to people who are currently unserved by traditional banks.
Jan 18, 2019
$72M
Promogo
Promogo is a platform that enables brands to advertise on the body of individually owned vehicles.
Sep 17, 2018
–
PT RUMA
To increase dignity, income, and access for the poor through technology.
Dec 25, 2017
–
Midtrans
Midtrans empowers eCommerce through technology.
Dec 15, 2017
–
Kartuku
Kartuku is a third party processor and payment service provider delivering end-to-end, mission critical payment solutions in Indonesia.
Nov 15, 2017
$50M
LOKET
LOKET is the first event management platform in Indonesia that gives the freedom of selling tickets on one’s own website.
Aug 8, 2017
–
Leftshift Technologies
We build loveable products for iOS and Android
Nov 8, 2016
–
Gojek – Awards and Recognitions
Gojek is the only firm from Southeast Asia to reach Fortune’s list of “56 Companies That Changed the World” for 2017. Gojek was the first Southeast Asian firm to be named twice in Fortune’s Top 50 Firms That Changed The World list, rising to number 11 out of 52 global companies in 2019.
Other international honors include the Top Performer in ASEAN Award in 2017, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the Superior Products and Services Award in 2016.
Among the national honors are –
Top 15 Most Valuable Indonesian Brands 2019,
Top 3 Brand Performer and Top 3 Most Powerful Transportation/Logistic Brands,
Top 3 Netizen Choice in Online Transportation,
The BrandZ Top 15 Most Valuable Indonesian Brands 2019,
The BrandZ Top 15 Most Valuable Indonesian Brands 2019,
The BrandZ Top 15 Most Valuable Indonesian Brands 2019,
The BrandZ Top 15 Most Valu Best Indonesia Mobile App 2015,
Best Startup Category Work Life Balance,
Most Admired CEO in Indonesia 2017, and
Most Creative in Solving Economic Challenges 2017.
Gojek – Competitors
The top competitors in Gojek’s competitive set are Lyft, Grab, Uber, ComfortDelGro, Gett, MOIA, Ryder, Easy Taxi Services, and Space Neobank.
Grab has dominated the ride-hailing sector in Singapore since the Grab-Uber merger. Grab will have to enhance its service quality now that Gojek, an Indonesian startup, has joined the Singapore market. One of the biggest issues Gojek is facing is a driver shortage, as many self-employed drivers are now listed with Grab.
Gojek is looking forward to organize driver recruitment efforts and offer larger incentives to potential drivers in order to overcome this. Allowing drivers to withdraw money from their virtual wallets is one of them, as is a points system that can be converted into cash and a minimum hourly wage.
Another issue that Gojek is dealing with is a lack of demand. With so many transportation alternatives in Singapore, Gojek will have to rethink its product to stand out from the crowd. To address this, Gojek will need to expand its service offerings, such as its proposal to offer housecleaning services.
Gojek’s quick expansion and market dominance have sparked widespread media attention, as well as criticism from traditional taxi and ojek providers. The Minister of Transportation briefly stopped Gojek and other ride-hailing firms from operating. The restriction was met with widespread opposition, with the hashtag #SaveGojek becoming Indonesia’s most popular trending subject on Twitter.
The ban was removed the same day when President Joko Widodo denounced it, saying that the government should not limit innovation and that the prohibition will have a negative impact on the lives of many Indonesians who rely on Gojek’s services. Budi Karya Sumadi, Indonesia’s Minister of Transportation, enacted a new regulation for online taxis in October 2017. The former PM 26, which regulated the use of private cars for public transportation, was replaced by PM 108.
Gojek – Future Plans
A new ride-hailing service has launched. Gojek plans to expand its operations outside of Indonesia this year, according to co-CEO Kevin Aluwi.
âOver the last few years, weâve definitely invested relatively smaller amounts in our markets outside of Indonesia. But, we think this is the year where we really want to spread our wings and be a regional and global business,â Aluwi, founder of Gojek, added.
Gojek began as a ride-hailing service in Indonesia in 2010 and has subsequently expanded into food delivery, digital payments, and logistics. It now has a presence in over 200 cities across five Southeast Asian nations, with Indonesia remaining its most important market.
Aluwi also declined to comment on “merger speculations,” saying Gojek’s priority is to grow its business. Gojek is âextremely optimisticâ about 2021, he added.
âWe do think that 2021 is going to be a growth year and, more importantly, we spent 2020 really investing in a lot of the business and product and operational fundaments, such that profitability and long-term sustainability looks meaningfully better year-over-year,â he said.
Gojek – FAQs
What does Gojek do?
Gojek is a company that creates on-demand smartphone apps for ride-hailing and a number of other services. The company’s app offers services such as transportation and logistics, food ordering and delivery, digital payment, shopping, news, and entertainment, among others, allowing customers to access travel, logistical support, and a variety of other activities with only a few taps on their smartphones.
Which country is Gojek based in?
Gojek is an Indonesian company.
Who founded Gojek?
Nadiem Makarim, Kevin Aluwi and Michaelangelo Moran co-founded the company Gojek.
How does Gojek make money?
On each successful order placed using the app, Gojek charges a tiny commission fee. Gojek is a one-stop-shop for its customers, offering a convenient answer to a wide range of issues. It saves time by eliminating the need to switch between apps to meet different demands.
Which companies do Gojek compete with?
The top competitors in Gojek’s competitive set are Lyft, Grab, Uber, ComfortDelGro, Gett, MOIA, Ryder, Easy Taxi Services, and Space Neobank.
âCity of Dreamsâ, as many people express Mumbai, is a place that helps bring dreams to reality. Angel Investors are one of the means for you, to help achieve your dreams. Thereby, find the list of Angel Investors in Mumbai and get an insight on their specific Market Interests, Contact details and Major Investments. It is also essential for you to clear certain Myths about Angel Investors. We are here to help you out on all of it.
Mumbai isnât just the well-off city, but the Economic Hub of India, that has various Industrialists, CEOs, Entrepreneurs, Well-known companies, Directors, Producers, Artists, and what not! Â The place ‘Mumbai‘ has its own culture and architecture that makes it the spot of tourist attraction. Well, a place that is full of life and energetic minds, requires a guide and a financial supporter to enthusiastic people, for building up the initial base of their dreams. Thus, here comes the Role of Angel Investors who act as wizards for breeding minds to help them act upon their dreams.
Before, moving ahead to get insights on Angel Investors, Lets’ understand the Pre-built Myths about Angel Investors and the Reality Strike.
Myths vs Reality of Angel Investors
Unlock Your Startup’s Potential with Our Exclusive Investor Lists and Resources
Supercharge your startup’s success with our comprehensive resources. Access investor lists, pitch decks, KPIs, and fundraising guides. Connect with pre-seed investors, angel networks, and family offices, while mastering VC pitches. Ignite your entrepreneurial dreams today!
Arihant is the MD at Ideaspring Capital (an early-stage VC) and Hive Technologies (platform for launching startups in big data space). He acts as the MD at Patni Financial Advisor and as a Director of Nirvana Venture Advisors. An Entrepreneur, Financial Advisor, and Venture Capitalist, Arihant completed his B.Sc in Chemical Engineering from the reputable University of Pennsylvania and MBA from Babson College, with concentration in Entrepreneurship. He also did a Masters in Statistics from Columbia University.
Anupam Mittal is the Founder & CEO of People Group, which has created ventures like Shaadi.com, Mauj Mobile, and People pictures. He is one of the prominent angel investors in Mumbai with over 20 investments. He completed his studies in Commerce field from the esteemed Boston College. Before People Group, he served as the Product Manager at MicroStrategy in Washington.
Ratan Tata, one of the most influential business tycoons of India, is an investor & philanthropist. He is the recipient of Indiaâs esteemed awards Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan for his immense contribution to the country. He was associated with advisory boards for various companies like Mitsubishi, Temasek, JP Morgan Chase, and Rolls Royce. He serves as the former Chairman of the Tata Group. He completed his Bachelor of Arts from the esteemed St. Xaviers College, Mumbai.
Markets Interested
Digital Media, Education, Healthcare, Ecommerce, Technology
Anirudh, the MD at Artha India Ventures (an early-stage investment firm) is an energetic investor in startups and also a prominent member of the Indian Angel Network. He has a vast understanding and experience of the Indian Startup Ecosystem. He is always on a hunt to find new ideas and accept new challenges. Before Artha Ventures, he acted as the Investor director at FindUrClass and Klip.in. he obtained his Bachelor Degree in Economics & Business Administration from the esteemed Austin college
Zishaan is a successful entrepreneur and a prominent angel investor. He is the Founder and CEO of Toppr, an online education platform. Before getting associated with Toppr, he also co-founded a Phone commerce marketplace Chaupaati Bazaar, which was later acquired by the Future Group. He has also worked with Opera Solutions on various strategies and consulting projects. Being a graduate from IIT Delhi, in 2015, he was awarded the Young Alumni Achiever Award.
Anand Mahindra, the Chairman of Mahindra group, is a reputable businessman and also an active investor in emerging startups. He founded Project Nanhi Kali, an NGO that provides financial and academic support to underprivileged girls across India. He was included in the Fortune Magazineâs List of âWorldâs 50 Greatest Leadersâ. He did his MBA from the reputable, Harvard Business School.
Anand Mahindra’s Investments
Thinkerbell Labs, Local circles, among many others.
Kunal, the Co-founder of FreeCharge (Online mobile recharge platform), is a successful entrepreneur, mentor, and among the top angel investors in Mumbai. He acts as an active advisor at AngelList. He is also the Founder of CRED, Advisor to the board at Times group, and had been an advisor at Sequoia Capital.
Sandeep Tandon, the Co-founder of FreeCharge (Online mobile recharge platform), is an active angel investor in Mumbai. He has invested in and mentored various early-stage startups. Being the Member Board of Directors at CRED, partner at Whiteboard Capital, Non-executive chairman of Aavas Financiers, and the Member of Board of Advisors of Iron Pillar, Sandeep got exposure to various domains. He completed his studies in Engineering from the esteemed University of Southern California.
Markets Interested
Digital Media, Ecommerce, B2B, Online Marketplaces, Matrimonial, Healthcare
Sandeep Tandon’s Investments
Pocket Aces, Bharat Bazaar, ShaadiSaga, Flyrobe, Spinny among many.
Sanjay, the Director of CORE (Centre of Recognition and Excellence), is a prominent angel investor of Mumbai. He was the recipient of the âAngel Investor of the Yearâ award by LetsVenture in 2017. He is an active member of Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels, B2B 1K Ventures & CIO Angel Network, Venture Nursery. He has angel invested in more than 100 startups in diverse sectors. He did his Executive education in Venture Capital from the esteemed The Wharton School.
Ronnie, the Co-founder & Chairman of upGrad and also the Founder of Unilazer Ventures, is an entrepreneur and an experienced angel investor. He is also famous for the creation of UTV, leading Mass media aggregate. He did his Bachelorâs degree from the Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics.
Jitendra, the Founder of Citrus Pay, Jupiter, Lazy pay & MD of PayU India, is a well-experienced angel investor. He has got expertise in the field of Banking & Financial Services industry. Before Citrus, he was associated with ICICi Bank and as the Chief Manager of Global Investment Banking Group.
Vishal, the Founder & CEO of GOQii (platform from health and wellness solution), Vishal Gondal, is an entrepreneur cum angel investor. He has acted as a major contributory in modifying the journey of many startups. Believing in leading and motivating startups to get extraordinary results, Vishal expresses the importance of extra effort & commitment Before, he was associated with the Walt Disney Co. and India Games Ltd.
Haresh, Partner at True North (Private equity firm), is one of the active investors in the Indian startup ecosystem. He is an alumnus of the reputable IIT Bombay & IIM Calcutta. Earlier, he had been associated as a Group CEO at Viacom18 & Network18. He also acted as the General Manager of Times Group & the Amitabh Bachchan Corporation.
Ajeet Khurana, the Former CEO of Zebpay (Mobile wallet for cryptocurrencies), is an entrepreneur and angel investor. He is skilled in building teams, ensuring performance, scaling, digital strategy, planning, and negotiation. He was also associated as an Advisor at Kalaari Capital, a Consultant at ii5 Ventures ltd and as the CEO of IIT Bombayâs business incubator: SINE. He completed his MBA from The University of Texas at Austin.
Markets Interested
Cryptocurrency, E-stores, Fashion, Technology, Digital Media, Healthcare
Ajeet Khurana’s Investments
Medd, WittyFeed, Leaf Wearables, Stitchwood among others
Sanjay, an Operating Partner at GSF India (Venture capital firm & accelerator), is a wise mentor and an active angel investor. His portfolio is majorly composed of tech startups. He also acts as an Independent Director at Easy Home Finance Ltd. Earlier, he served as the President & CMO at Reliance Capital and also as the Marketing Head at Allianz Life Insurance. He excels at negotiations & alliances.
Anuj, the Co-Founder of Venture Catalysts (Start-up Incubator) & Samyakth Capital (Hybrid growth fund), is among the prominent angel investors in Mumbai. He has over 15 years of experience across various fields which includes real estate, financial services, manufacturing, and internet companies. By profession, he is a chartered accountant.
Markets Interested
Digital media, Cryptocurrency, Fintech, Ecommerce, Education, Real Estate
Anuj Golecha’s Investments
LenDenClub, Inc42, Koinex, Fynd, Supr Daily, Bharatpe among many.
Japan, the Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Sixth Sense Ventures, is a well-experienced angel investor. He has mentored and invested in various Indian startups and helped them in their journey of growth & development. He is also the Chartered Member of TiE Mumbai. Earlier, he served as the Director at IDFC Investment Advisors Ltd.
Anand, the CEO at Everest Flavours ltd., is an active member of the Indian angel network and Mumbai angels. He has got immense experience in International Trade.
He is also member of National Executive Committee of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), Managing Committee of FIEO (Federation of Indian Export Organisations). He has his footprints set on various social and charitable organisations.
Amit, the Co-Founder & Director of Raay Global and also the Chairman of Nirvana Venture Advisors, is a prominent angel investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. Additionally, he is also a promoter shareholder of Patni Computers and former Director of PCS Technology Ltd., Partner at The Hive-India & Ideaspring Capital. He holds a Bachelor in Commerce and an MBA from Babson College, Boston.
Vaibhav, he is a partner at Karnavat & Co and a prominent angel investor. In addition to that, he is a partner at Itreat Grocers LLP and also acted as CEO of Jewelex International Pvt Ltd. He did his Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting & Finance from the H R College of Commerce & Economics and is Chartered Accountant by qualification.
Dr. Apoorv, the Co-founder & President of Venture Catalysts, is one of the prominent angel investors in Mumbai. He also acts as the Board member at TiE Mumbai. Earlier, he served as the Vice President of Indian Angel Network and as the General Manager at Amity Innovation Incubator. He did his Ph.D. in Incubation from Amity University, Graduated in Engineering from HBTI, Kanpur, and Diploma in Mentor Studies of Berkley Institute of Management, University of California, USA.
Rajeev, the Founder of Magnetic Partners, is a well-experienced angel investor in the Indian start-up ecosystem. Earlier, he acted as the CEO & MD of JM Financial Services.
Pravin, He is the General Partner at Seedfund (Early-stage venture capital fund) and the owner of the Infinity Technology Venture Fund. In addition to that, he acts as the Board Member of TiE Mumbai and as an Advisor at Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund.
The Founder & Director of Malpani Ventures, Dr. Aniruddha, is a doctor-turned angel investor. He also acts as the Director at Solidarity Investment Advisors and the Board member of Invention Labs.
Aakrit, the Co-founder & CEO of Haptik (Conversational AI Platform), is an entrepreneur and an active angel investor. He is also the co-founder of Flat.io, a real estate platform and the Director of Winmark Enterprises  Earlier, he served as the director at Flurry Inc., Business Technology Analyst at Deloitte Consulting LLP and as a Financial analyst at Chicago Transit Authority.
Markets Interested
Education, Technology, AI, eCommerce, Healthcare
Aakrit Vaish’s Investments
Unacademy, ION Energy, Dataweave, Haikujam, Tookitaki, Talent Litmus among others
Bharat, the CEO & Senior President of Aditya Birla Group, is an active member of the Indian Angel Network, CIO Angel Network, Venture Nursery, and The Indus Entrepreneurs. He is an experienced person in varied fields like Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions, business development, and investing. He is the recipient of the “Professional Achiever â Finance Sector” Award from the ICAI.
Bharat Banka’s Investments
OYO, Perpetuiiti Tech, Invenzone, TalView, Vegayan, AdStringo, InstaSafe among others
Devesh Chawla, Founder & CEO of Chatur Ideas, a Startup enabling platform. He is an active investor, TEDx speaker, and mentor to budding entrepreneurs. He is a recipient of various awards which includes “Youth Leadership Award” by Trade Commissioner of Canada, âMahatma Gandhi Samman Awardâ, âEntrepreneur of the Year 2018″ and “CEO of the Year 2019”
He did his MBA in Finance and Insurance from the Mumbai Education Trust-Institute of Management and his Bachelorâs Degree in Computer Engineering from the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology.
Devesh Chawla’s Investments
NUOS, Cloudrino, Hublio, Koonk Technologies, and others.
Vikram, the Founding partner at 8i Ventures, is a prominent angel investor. He also acts as the Board Advisor to Blue Tokai and Signzy, and the co-founder & Board Member of Eight Capital. He did his MBA in Accounting & Finance from the New York University, MBA in Personnel Management & Industrial relations from the XLRI Jamshedpur and Bcom in Finance from the Shri Ram College of Commerce.
Farooq, the Co-founder of Fynd (Online Shopping Platform), is an entrepreneur and an active angel investor. He is a graduate from the IIT Bombay and also was associated with Opera Solutions before founding Fynd. He is an alumnus of the esteemed IIT Bombay.
Abhishek Shah, the Founder & CEO of Wellthy Therapeutics is a prominent angel investor in the Indian startup ecosystem. He did his MBA in Finance, strategy & Leadership from the Esteemed Indian School of Business.
Markets Interested
Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software, E-commerce, IT, Food & Beverage, AI, Healthtech, Big Data
Abhishek’s Investments
Bizly, ZipDial (Acquired by Twitter), Innerchef, Haptik, Greatist, Silverpush, Meddo Health, myUpchar.com, Â Doxper, among many
Sohil is an Early stage investor and a prominent entrepreneur. With experiences in firms like Bank of America, Fortune Financial Services & Intellecap Impact Investments, he has explored his field of interest with enthusiasm and curiosity. He completed his MS in Finance from The University of Michigan.
Bhavik, the Founder & Chairman of Vamaship (Indiaâs largest e-commerce logistics marketplace), is a focused investor & entrepreneur. He also serves as a Director at BVC ventures. Being a part of various angel networks, he has gained exposure in several tech enabled startups. With regards to academic exposure, he was part of Harvard, London School of Economics, Indian School of Business, Singularity University & Narsee Monjee.
Markets Interested
Mobile Advertising, Social Media, Digital Media, Transportation, Logistics, E-commerce, Travel & Tourism, Software Technology
Siddharth is the Founder & CEO of Noesis.tech. He was also the founding partner at 369 Solutions. With a keen passion for technology, Siddharth constantly attempts to create a platform to monetize knowledge.
Being associated with Protiviti India & StyleCracker as Consultant and Advisor at Umoja & FoxyMoron Media Solutions, he gained immense experience and exposure in his field of domain.
This was our list of Angel Investors in Mumbai. Hope the contact details of these Angel Investors helped you! If you are an investor or know any Angel Investor in Mumbai, connect with us at shubham@startuptalky.com to get featured in the list.
With all the portals online that provide effortless shopping experience online, it becomes difficult for the consumers to determine the best prices of their desired products. To make this task handy and simpler, Sulakshan Kumar and Sitakanta Ray founded MySmartPrice in 2011.
Read this article to know more about MySmartPrice, how it works, founders, business model, revenue model, challenges, competitors, funding, wiki, and growth.
MySmartPrice is an online engine that compares the prices of mobiles, books, electronics, cameras, and appliances thereby helping consumers make the best decisions.
MySmartPrice mainly helps users solve two basic problems: what to buy, and where to buy. So this platform facilitates the online shopping experience by providing product comparison. Also for categories like footwear and fashion, MySmartPrice has a range of filters like best discounts that help the platform to come up with a consolidated bestseller list with the popular products and their specifications. So all in all, the idea is to provide the users with the best deals but also provide information about all the deals.
So basically, what MySmartPrice does is that it lists the prices of all the products across top eCommerce sites. Because of the dynamic pricing models of the e-commerce portals, these prices are periodically refreshed by MySmartPrice to improve the accuracy of the product pricing. In the cases of extremely popular products, the prices are refreshed every 15 minutes.
This portal makes sure that all possible discounts are informed to the user with embedded coupons so that the user can make wiser purchases. The co-founders had initially started the portal with books and then they gradually moved to mobile phones, comparing prices of various stores. Soon the mobiles category picked up, this portal attracted over 1 Million users a month. The co-founders in the long run also plan to list every single product that is sold in the Indian online space, on the MySmartPrice website.
âIf it is sold online in India, it is available on MySmartPriceâ, says Sulakshan.
MySmartPrice is all about letting the consumers make a smart and informed decision about their shopping aesthetics. Hence itâs USP is the portal that lets them compare the product prices across all the major platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, ShopClues to name a few.
MySmartPrice – How It Was Started?
MySmartPrice Logo
“We had been planning an entrepreneurial journey for almost eight years but could not muster enough courage. Finally, we felt it was now or never,â said Sitakanta Ray.
Sulakshan Kumar and Sitakanta Ray met in 1998 when they joined NIT Rourkela. After taking their degrees, both the co-founders joined Oracle in Hyderabad. From there they parted ways when Ray joined IIM Bangalore and Kumar joined Infosys.
“Odd as it may seem, I spent time studying management but handled engineering and marketing, while Sulakshan pursued engineering but is today involved in management,” added Sitakanta Ray.
What unites the co-founders is their zeal to take on their entrepreneurial journey. For both of them, their chance at the entrepreneurial journeys looked perfect with the price comparison/shopping research platform for the Indian market ideally because it involved the expertise of both product development and technology. And thatâs how Sulakshan Kumar and Sitakanta Ray decided to launch their venture – MySmartPrice.
Sulakshan Kumar and Sitakanta Ray are the founders of MySmartPrice.
Sulakshan Kumar & Sitakanta Ray | Co-Founders, MySmartPrice.
Sulakshan has a Bachelors’ in Mechanical engineering. He is an alumnus of NIT Rourkela, and also has worked with Sitakanta at Oracle. Before launching MySmartPrice, Sulakshan had also worked at Infosys.
Sitakanta is an alumnus of the prestigious IIM Bangalore, with around seven years of working experience with big names Oracle and ICICI Bank.
MySmartPrice – Business & Revenue Model
MySmartPrice as a website allows users to take a detailed look into the best products ranging from mobiles, electronics, computers, fashion and lifestyle, cameras, books, appliances, and personal care. As we know that the price comparison engine on the portal enables users to find the best price, deals, and offers from major e-commerce stores.
So directly or indirectly, it allows users to access over 10 million products from more than 100 online and offline stores. MySmartPrice also provides exciting things like coupons, offers, gifts without hiding information. MySmartPrice gets revenue as a service paid for each successful transaction done through the portal.
This portal has partnered with a lot many online and offline stores and there it charges a commission for lead generation. With conversion rates going up, revenues also rise. More than 80% of the revenue for MySmartPrice comes from the affiliate income i.e., a commission from promoting affiliate products on the site, and close to 18% of the revenue is generated from advertising and online directory services.
One of the major challenges MySmartPrice faced was when they started in 2010. This challenge was a limited budget. So to reach their target audience, it stuck to its core value of creating a robust product and focusing on Search Engine Optimization to get the first few customers onboard. This tactic really helped the company in developing a strong product range and retaining a large customer base.
There was one other challenge that the company faced in its initial days of inception. It was the very hurdle of attracting the right talent in the organization. However, MySmartPrice as a company never compromised on the kind of human resources it was looking for to build a team. To date, acquiring the right people continues to remain a big challenge, but the problem today is to choose the right talent rather than attracting more candidates.
MySmartPrice – Competitors
MySmartPrice has quite a few competitors in the market. For instance, Smartprix is perceived to be one of the biggest rivals of the company. Other competitors include companies Buyt, PriceRaja, Junglee, PriceDekho, MagicPrix, to name a few.
MySmartPrice has received total funding of around $12 million till now.
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
2012
Seed Round
$370K
Helion Venture Partners, Accel Partners
January 2014
Series A
$1 Million
Helion Venture Partners, Accel Partners
MySmartPrice is funded by 2 investors – Helion Venture Partners and Accel Partners.
MySmartPrice – Growth
Initially, the company had ventured into just offline listing. Soon it went on to online and offline listings in cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Delhi MySmartPrice claims to have offline partners generating business worth $2-3M every month. More than 4 million users across the country make use of the service every month.
MySmartPrice – FAQ’s
What is MySmartPrice?
MySmartPrice is an online engine that compares the prices of mobiles, books, electronics, cameras, and appliances thereby helping consumers make the best decisions.
Who is the founder of MySmartPrice?
Sulakshan Kumar and Sitakanta Ray are the founders of MySmartPrice.
What services does MySmartPrice provide?
MySmartPrice mainly helps users solve two basic problems: what to buy, and where to buy. So this platform facilitates the online shopping experience by providing product comparison.
Who are the investors of MySmartPrice?
MySmartPrice is funded by 2 investors – Helion Venture Partners and Accel Partners.
Who are the competitors of MySmartPrice?
Smartprix is perceived to be one of the biggest rivals of the company. Other competitors include companies Buyt, PriceRaja, Junglee, PriceDekho, MagicPrix, to name a few.
MySmartPrice – Conclusion
MySmartPrice is a high-growth venture-backed startup that runs the largest comparison shopping site in India with over 20 Million user visits per month. They help people easily find âwhat to buyâ and âwhere to buy fromâ and help them make better and wiser purchases. The company is present across multiple categories including Mobiles, Electronics, Computers, Books, Apparel and Shoes, Fashion accessories, Home dĂŠcor etc. MySmartPrice aims to provide users with the best price of products both among online stores as well as the local retailers near them.
Jeff Bezos is currently the World’s Richest Man with a Net-worth of $193.2 billion as of April 2021. He is the founder & CEO of Amazon and the owner of ‘The Washington Post’. The e-commerce industry has been at the center of most entrepreneurial attempts and ventures. Significant developments have happened in this segment over the last couple of decades. The e-commerce division has become an indispensable part of our lives today. Physical obstacles related to brick-and-mortar stores have essentially been eliminated. Without any doubt, Amazon is at the pinnacle of e-retail. And the credit goes to Jeff Bezos.
Jeff Bezos Biography
Name
Jeff Bezos
Born
12 January 1964 (age 57 years)
Place
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Net Worth
$193.2 Billion (April 21, 2021)
Known for
World’s Richest Man (Forbes), Founder & CEO of Amazon
Education
Princeton University (1982â1986), Miami Palmetto Senior High School, River Oaks Elementary School
Bezos graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering. His early interest in gadgets and the functioning of machines made him turn his parentâs garage into a laboratory. He had business instincts right from the start as during high school, he began the Dream Instituteâan educational summer camp for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders.
Jeff Bezos – Key Investments
Jeff Bezos invested in various businesses to date. A look at the World’s Richest Man’s investments shows a diversified portfolio spanning across sectors including media, software technology, healthcare, financial services, logistics & more.
Take a look at the Key Investments of Jeff Bezos.
Jeff Bezos Key Investments
Jeff Bezos – Jobs Before Amazon
After graduation, Bezos worked for several firms on Wall Street. He worked for Bankers Trust and then D.E. Shaw. He was elected as the youngest vice president at D.E. Shaw in 1990. A smooth life wasnât everything for him and he decided to try his hands on something different. In 1994, he resigned from D.E. Shaw and moved on to the e-commerce industry. He launched an online website that sold books. This marked the beginning of his entrepreneurial path.
Inspired by the great South American River Amazon, he named his online bookstore Amazon.com. The website went live after nearly 300 friends tested the beta site. Amazon.com became popular all over the world. With no promotion, Amazon.com sold books all over the country and within 30 days, the company was operating in 30 countries. Within two months, sales reached around 20,000 USD per week. This was much larger than anticipated.
Amazon Logo
The company went public in 1997. After two years, the company became the face of the e-commerce industry. The growth of Amazon.com lead to diversification in its offerings. The company began to sell CDs and videos in 1998. Later, toys, clothes, and video games were brought onto the Amazon platform. The move was done to cover every age group. While many e-commerce websites were struggling to survive, Amazon.com flourished. The yearly sales took a giant leap from 510,000 USD in 1995 to 17 billion USD in 2011.
The introduction of Amazon Prime was significant in revenue boost. The media tycoon declared that Amazon Prime had surpassed 100 million paid subscribers. The companyâs value reached 1 trillion USD in the year 2018, making it the second company to break the 1 trillion mark.
Amazon.com launched its video-on-demand service in the year 2006. The extension was initially named as Amazon Unbox on TiVo. Bezos introduced Amazon Studios in 2013. The studio became popular due to its association with the critically acclaimed Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle. Bezos has also made a cameo appearance in the movie Star Trek Beyond as an alien. Under his leadership, Amazon introduced Alexa, the virtual assistant. The arrival of Kindle changed the way people read books after 2007. Bezos gave Appleâs iPad a run for its money by introducing launching Kindle Fire HD. The tablet was affordable and was well received.
Bezos made headlines after purchasing The Washington Post for 250 million USD. After taking over the company, Bezos hired hundreds of reporters and editors. Later, the association of Michael Flynn (the former national security advisor) with Russians was revealed by Washington Post. This forced Flynn to resign. At the end of 2016, the new publisher generated revenues of 100 million USD.
In 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin. Blue Origin is an aerospace company that makes space travel affordable through cutting-edge tech. For the most part of the decade, the company wasnât in the news, siloing itself in its research. Bezos invited many reporters to visit the companyâs headquarters in Kent in 2016. He proposed a vision of humans colonizing the space. Bezos sold 1 billion USD of Amazon stock to fund Blue Origin. NASA announced that Blue Origin was amongst the 13 companies selected to collaborate on nineteen technology projects to reach the Moon and planet Mars. Blue Origin is also working with NASA on reusable rockets.
In the year 2018, Bezos launched the Bezos Day One Fund. This organization helps homeless families. It also aims at creating a network of new, non-profit tier-one preschools for low-income communities. Jeff gave away 2 billion USD of his personal fortune to fund the nonprofit organization.
For many years, Bill Gates was at the tip of our tongues when speaking of the worldâs richest person. Jeff Bezos changed that. The staggering increase in his wealth shows what behemoth of a company Amazon has become. What began as an online bookstore now deals with cloud services, e-retail, electronics, high tech offerings, and what not. Jeff Bezos is an example of how consistent efforts and innovation can take an individual to unimaginable success!
Jeff Bezos – FAQs
How much does Jeff Bezos make in a day?
Jeff Bezos’s net worth increased by $67.4 billion on August 12, 2020. Based on these figures, Jeff Bezos made around $321 million per day or $3,715 per second. According to Observer, Jeff Bezos earns approximately $149,353 a minute.
What does Jeff Bezos do with his money?
Bezos’ net worth is an estimated $193.2 billion, according to Forbes. He spends his fortune on real estate, a Gulfstream Jet, and his space exploration company.
What did Jeff Bezos study in university?
Bezos had an early love of computers and studied computer science and electrical engineering at Princeton University.
Who Founded Blue Origin?
In 2000, Bezos founded Blue Origin. Blue Origin is an aerospace company that makes space travel affordable through cutting-edge tech.
Why Jeff Bezos named Amazon?
Inspired by the great South American River Amazon, Jeff Bezos named his online bookstore Amazon.com.
How was life for Jeff Bezos before Amazon?
After graduation, Bezos worked for several firms on Wall Street. He worked for Bankers Trust and then D.E. Shaw. He was elected as the youngest vice president at D.E. Shaw in 1990.
Jeff Bezos – Conclusion
Bezos founded e-commerce giant Amazon in 1994 out of his garage in Seattle. Before starting Amazon, Bezos worked for several firms on Wall Street. He worked for Bankers Trust and then vice president at D.E. Shaw. Bezos was doing well with his life at that point of time. But he wanted to try something new with his life and started working on Amazon from his garage. The life story of Jeff Bezos has admired a lot of people all over the world. “Never Settle. Keep Hustling”.
âThe people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.â â Steve Jobs
The whole millennial generation today is all about renting rather than owning! Right? Be it shared cabs, carpools, co-working spaces, or renting home accessories, millennials are up for it. And following that premise, IIT-Guwahati graduates â Manish S. Sugandhi, Shubham Jain and Aditya Sharma launched GrabOnRent in the year 2015. Read this article to know more about GrabOnRent founders, competitors, funding, growth, wiki, and future plans.
GrabOnRent attempts to promote optimal utilization of the products by offering flexible rental times. This means that you can rent the item either on an hourly, daily or monthly basis.
GrabOnRent is ideally a product rental marketplace that aggregates various vendors in the market who own brick-and-mortar shops for rentals to the buyers on the platform. The idea of the co-founders behind GrabOnRent is to provide accessibility of the home products like furniture and other categories to everybody irrespective of their capacity to buy it.
GrabOnRent helps its users in renting products online across 8 major categories namely furniture, appliances, eventsupplies which includes lights, sound systems, etc, bicycles, cameras, gaming consoles, party items like hukka, barbeque, etc, and adventure gear. Also, it essentially enables the renting of cool gadgets such as Pebble Smartwatch, Kindle e-book readers, and Hoverboards. GrabOnRent has a provision that allows the buyer to try the product before buying for a minimal amount.
GrabOnRent summer advertisement
GrabOnRent follows a clear methodological bucket system to address the concerns of a wide population like in India. These four buckets are as follows:
Discoverability â This bucket is all about creating awareness in the market and amongst the target market allowing them to browse the possible and available products on rent.
Quality Assurance in refurbished products â This bucket stands in the list to improve the âsticky-nessâ towards the service GrabOnRent is providing and also gain the loyalty of the suppliers who have recurring customers due to the consistently improved quality.
Convenience â This bucket includes online payment mechanisms (or COD) and effective logistics service, to and fro so that seamless experience can be provided to the consumers.
Trust â This bucket involves dealing with a much-specialized product rental firm against vendor forms the basic layer of trust apart from the combination of quality assured products and supreme customer service to the users of GrabOnRent.
GrabOnRent Logo
Things work pretty simply on GrabOnRent. All the users need to do is browse through the superiorly extensive array of products, then select the item they want to buy and go on to make the payment online towards the rent and security deposit. The item gets delivered to the userâs doorstep, without any further delay.
Each item at GrabOnRent passes through a very strict and stringent quality check before getting shipped to, therefore, ensure the best of services to the users. Post usage, the item gets picked up from the doorstep and the security deposit is returned online after verification and quality check of the used item.
GrabOnRent has essentially tapped into the market that is being brought by the constantly shifting millennials of the current generation. These millennials do not care that much about putting down roots as the generations before them.
Moreover, this saves them a lot of money as well so obviously, this seems like a better option to them. On GrabOnRentâs website, the users can rent products as per their convenience, be it for an hour or a day or even for months and years. The interesting part is that both refurbished and new products are listed on this website.
GrabOnRent – Founders and Team
The founders of GrabOnRent are Manish S. Sugandhi, Shubham Jain and Aditya Sharma.
GrabOnRent – Founders
Shubham Jain is the Co-founder and CEO at GrabOnRent. An IIT Guwahati graduate, Shubham has earlier co-founded Trip Engineers. Before GrabOnRent, he was working with Perdix Business Solutions as the Head of User Experience.
Aditya Sharma is the Co-founder and CTO at GrabOnRent. Again, graduated from IIT Guwahati, Aditya was a senior R&D Engineer at Hewlett-Packard before launching his current venture.
Manish S. Sugandhi, Co-founder of GrabOnRent – This venture is not Manishâs first. Before this one, he had co-founded Perdix Business Solutions and was a Business Analyst at Flipkart. And Manish is also an IIT- Guwahati graduate.
Everything around GrabOnRent started during one of the founders’ own crises moments. And thatâs exactly when the idea for GrabOnRent struck them. So it happened so that they had to organize a barbecue for a party one evening, and they ended up having a tough time just to find out where to rent it from.
And they finally decided to buy a new one because there seemed to be no way they could avail it on rent. This particular experience drew the founders closer to the tremendous amount of hassles people face while renting objects, and this triggered a new idea.
GrabOnRent – Startup Launch
âAs the idea for GrabOnRent started taking shape and we were drawing out a plan of action, we had some reservations â what should be our target group, should we launch a fully functional product or a hacky one, which categories to start with, should we introduce an app-only model or an app-website model, etcâ, says Shubham Jain, co-founder of GrabOnRent.
The founders then finally decided to keep the ever-increasing questions aside and they moved forward to launching their venture. Hence, GrabOnRent was launched with two preliminary categories in Bangalore. And to reach out to the target audience, the team started distributing pamphlets and as a result of which they also got the first few clients in the first week itself. All of this was followed by the fairly good inflow of orders, positive customer feedback, and guidance from industry leaders, GrabOnRent paved its way forward to the successful journey of building a startup.
Grab On Rent competes with other startups in the space like Rentomojo, Rentwala, Rentongo, Rentmasti, RentSher, etc. However, GrabOnRent is perceived to have only two of these startups as its real competitors. They are Furlenco and Rentomojo. Grab On Rent considers these two as competition for the simple reason that these startups have huge amounts under their kitties. Amongst these, Furlenco is into the opulent furniture segment and Rentomojo is dealing with furniture and appliances and both of these hold inventory whereas GrabOnRent doesnât.
GrabOnRent – Funding and Investors
The funding amount of GrabOnRent stands at $3 million.
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
June 2016
Seed Round
$1 Million
IvyCap Ventures, Unicorn India Ventures
June 2017
Venture Round
–
IvyCap Ventures, Unicorn India Ventures
April 2018
Venture Round
$2 Million
IvyCap Ventures, Unicorn India Ventures
GrabOnRent is funded by 2 investors – Unicorn India Ventures and IvyCap Ventures.
GrabOnRent – Growth
Serves more than 35,000 customers
The average ticket size of INR 1800
The average rental duration is about 12 months
Team size of 103 across four cities
Currently active in four cities- Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Gurugram.
Sells more than 500 unique products across 8 different categories
âMoving ahead, some of our plans are â We are strongly focused on expansion, and have immediate plans to launch our services in Pune, NCR region and Chennai. We wish to increase awareness about our platform and have more and more people use our services for renting purposes. Our target is to have around 2 million customers by the end of 2020″, concluded Shubham Jain, co-founder of GrabOnRent.
However, sadly GrabOnRent Shut down their operations in September of 2020. It might have been due to their inability to raise more funds, being ahead of their time or them losing the trademark infringement case by GrabOn It could be a culmination of all three.
GrabOnRent – FAQs
What is GrabOnRent?
GrabOnRent helps its users in renting products online across 8 major categories namely furniture, appliances, eventsupplies which includes lights, sound systems, etc, bicycles, cameras, gaming consoles, party items like hukka, barbeque, etc, and adventure gear.
Does GrabOnRent own the products?
GrabOnRent doesn’t own any of the items. It is a marketplace, wherein based on the customers’ choice  it collects the product from the vendor and delivers it. After the completion of rental tenure it returns the product back.
Who is the founder of GrabOnRent?
The founders of GrabOnRentare Manish S, Sugandhi, Shubham Jain and Aditya Sharma.
What is Rent-to-Own?
Rent-to-Own is a specially designed program. Wherein You can try the products by using them on rent and if you love them so much that you canât live without them, purchase them from GrabOnRent at special discounted prices that are pre-defined.
Is it better to buy or rent furniture?
Buying your own furniture is an expensive process, requiring a high amount of money that requires to be paid up front. Whereas the key benefit of renting furniture is the fact that only a negligible amount is paid up front, with a reasonable rent to be paid monthly.
Has GrabOnRent Shut down?
Yes, unfortuntely, GrabOnRent has to shutdown operation in September of 2020.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Paytm.
Love shopping right? Want things branded? Always want to follow the trend? Online shopping is a process of buying and selling which helps consumers to buy products with a lot of information. Shoppers are able to visit web stores from their homes itself. Isn’t it interesting?
Paytm Mall is an E-commerce platform. Paytm Mall’s electronics category is very popular on the website as it helps users in finding the latest mobiles and eletronic gadgets at the lowest prices. Paytm Mall app also provides its customers with the best deals, offers and cash backs. Starting from home appliances to laptops everything is available here. Read the Paytm Mall success story below to know more about the company.
Paytm Mall India is dedicated towards online shopping like any other e-commerce app or website. But it doesn’t deal with options like bill, recharge, payment, utility bills or any other money-related activities. Paytm is a word that everyone has come through. Apart from this many don’t know that the shopping section is also available along with the bill payment section. Rest there are no such differences.
Paytm Mall – Startup Story
In the beginning, Paytm dealt with money bills. A few years later the company launched a consumer shopping app for its users. It is inspired by the model of China’s largest business to consumer (B2C) retail platform. The aim was to create a combination of the mall and bazaar concept to Indian consumers. With the help of the new app, consumers will now be able to shop from 1.4 lakh sellers. The Paytm Mall app is available for Android and Apple, and is soon said to launch an upgraded version.
The Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is currently an Indian billionaire businessman and an entrepreneur. He was born on 8th July in 1978 and is currently, 42 years old. He completed his education from Delhi College of Engineering, which is now known as Delhi Technological University. In 1997 he started a website but sold it two years later for $1 million.
In the year 2017, he was ranked as India’s youngest billionaire. He was also the one who was present in the list of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2017. Besides Paytm Mall, the platform is also known for creating Paytm first game and the Paytm wallet.
Paytm Mall – Tagline, Slogan And Logo
The tagline of the company is ‘Ab Shopping ke liye bhi, Paytm Karo!‘
Paytm Mall logo
Paytm Mall – Business Model
The Paytm Mall business model is based how the platform is designed especially for Paytm merchants, vendors and sellers. The company charges a commission between 5 to 20% of the products sold. The company has moved away from the warehouse model and is leveraging its successful O2O (offline to online) model to save costs up to 35%.
With the help of the O2O model, the company has seen a lot of progress. The Paytm Mall’s business model is said to improve in the coming years. Here, customers can also scan codes using their smartphones to shop in their favourite shops. The company feels that these kind of things will help consumers more.
The Paytm Mall login and interface is easy to use, so the visitors can turn into buyers. The Paytm Mall customer care is also responsive and solves the customer queries immediately. While the Paytm mall delivery time is said to be anywhere between 2-8 days, The Paytm Mall return policy is also available for the customers who want to exchange their products.
The Paytm Mall revenue has doubled its  in the year 2019. But after going through a loss in 2020 due to the pandemic, its again aiming towards increasing the revenue by three times in 2021. Paytm Mall spent Rs 2140 crores in 2019 to earn revenues of Rs 893 crores. Through brand promotions and shipping fees, the company earns a lot of money. Like Rs 66.7 crores and Rs 50.05 crores itself. The company also earned Rs 75.12 crores through mutual funds in the year 2019.
The company’s revenue is also earned through advertisements and Paytm Mall offers. But in the year 2018, the company spent Rs 944.21 crores and earned Rs 317.22 crores in the year 2019.
Paytm Mall – Funding And Investors
Paytm Mall funding has raised a total amount of $795 million in just 3 funding rounds.
The company is emerging as the preferred online to offline (O2O) platform across the country. It has seen more than 200% growth in the year 2019. To support and continue this growth the company has added more 200 people for the business in 2019. They are observing strong growth. And more improvement is required in the growth sector. Paytm Mall will consider getting listed on stock changes only after 2021 arrives.
Paytm Mall – Competitors
The top competitors of the company are Koovs.Com, Shopclues.Com and Snapdeal.
Koovs.Com is the topmost rival of Paytm Mall. The company was founded in 2009 in Haryana.
Shopclues.Com is one of the competitors of Paytm Mall. The company is headquartered in Haryana.
Snapdeal is also one of the competitors of Paytm Mall. It was founded in 2007 in New Delhi.
Paytm Mall – Future Goals
The company is aiming towards adding more workers by 2020. Along with technology, business and products, Paytm Mall is ensuring to its consumers that they will be getting a wide range of products and offers across online and offline stores.
Paytm Mall – Latest News
9th July 2021 – According to the media sources, some seniors Paytm executives have decided to quit before its anticipated $2.3 billion Initial Public Offering (IPO). This includes the president of Paytm Amit Nayyar and a few other executives, however the company is yet to find a replacement for the president.
Earlier in the year, Paytm Mall continued to face  losses due to the covid 19 pandemic, however the company is looking to come out ahead with the help of its âEnd of Season Saleâ from June 25 to June 28 in 2021. The company will showcase best in class fashion collection from huge range of top international and national brands.
For the Paytm Mall sale today, the company has partnered with Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, IndusInd Bank for exclusive Paytm cashback deals on all debit and credit card transactions. The Paytm Mall sale is offering discounts from 50% to 80% on more than three lakh products in various category. The platform provides big savings with the help of Paytm mall promo code, deals, Paytm mall coupons and Paytm mall cashback rewards, etc.
Paytm Mall is an E-commerce platform. It helps you to find the latest mobiles online at the lowest prices. The company also provides its customers with the best deals, offers and cash backs.
How does Paytm work?
Paytm customers can pay, receive and shop with just a smartphone at zero extra cost. Users can simply scan the recipient’s QR code or entering their mobile number in the ‘Pay’ option in the Paytm app to instantly pay virtually anyone with a smartphone and the Paytm app.
Who is the Founder of Paytm?
The Paytm owner is Vijay Shekhar Sharma
What is the benefit of Paytm?
Paytm offers saving details for wallet, postpaid, saved UPIs, merchant gift vouchers, Paytm payments bank details.
Is Paytm Mall safe?
Yes, Paytm Mall app is safe as Each and every transaction at Paytm Mall is securely.
Which country created Paytm?
India
Is Paytm a Chinese company?
PayTM is completely Indian, it lists Ant Financial, a Chinese bigwig, as its major investor.
How much is Paytm worth?
The Paytm valuation according to the company IPO will be Rs 16,000 crore.
What is the difference between Paytm mall and Paytm?
Paytm Mall is an online shopping e-commerce website where as paytm is an eCommerce payment system where the users can engage in financial transactions.
How can I create a paytm account?
After the paytm app download, the users will need documents like the GST certificate and the Address proof of the registered business.
How is Paytm Mall doing?
Paytm Mall is doing good as it hit a GMV of $10 billion in FY 2019 based on its O2O strategy.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Voonik.
There was a time when women/men used to take their friends to go shopping just to have a little help in the selection process. Roundabout the same time, people were paying huge amounts to the stylists and designers to get a personalized style statement.
To shift this paradigm online and optimize the whole process to being smooth and handy came in Voonik in 2013. Get insights on Voonik’s Company Profile, Voonik Founders, Funding, Competitors, Business Model, Growth, Revenue and more.
Sujayath Ali and Navaneetha Krishnan launched Voonik to personalize the shopping experience for men and women. Yes, Voonik initially was launched for both men and women but later they decided to only focus on women’s clothing.
Now, Voonik is a personal clothing shopping app for women, allowing them to buy apparel from multiple brands and fashion stores, according to their body type, lifestyle, and budget.
Voonik enables women customers to directly shop like on any other e-commerce portal or the customer can provide some inputs like her body shape, skin tone, height, and personal style to let the application advise some dresses for her.
Sujayath Ali and Navaneetha Krishnan are the founders of Voonik.
Founders of Voonik
Sujayath Ali
Sujayth did his MBA in Technology and Finance from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad and has a Bachelorâs Degree in Computer Science Engineering from MepcoSchlenk Engineering College.
Before Voonik, he was working as VP, head of Visa Checkout merchant program at Visa. He has also worked for Amazon as a senior product manager in the states for 7 Years.
Navaneetha Krishnan
Before co-founding Voonik, he worked for Freshdesk as a Principal Developer, Narus Networks as Tech-Lead and Aryaka Networks as Technical Architect. Voonik originally started with a 12 member team which now grew to more than 150 employees.
How was Voonik Started?
Navaneetha and Sujayath went to college together and have known each other for more than 20 years now. Navaneetha was not very new to the startup scene because he had been a garage stage engineer at big companies like Zoho, Freshdesk, and Aryaka. And as we know, the other co-founder, Sujayath was in America spending 7 years at Amazon and Visa.
âWe first discussed the idea of starting something together over a Facebook chat sessionâ Says Sujayath.
Back then, Navaneetha had an idea for a SaaS offering based on his long and intriguing experience at Zoho and Freshdesk. On the other hand, Sujayath pitched an idea of creating an entirely new way of shopping to enable the users in buying what suits their build, lifestyle, and budget. The former was convinced by the idea of the latter, both quit their jobs and thatâs how the idea of Voonik was originated.
Voonik – Name, Logo and Tagline
Voonik’s tagline is “Everyday Fashion”, suiting its tagline, Voonik offers a range of options in every fashion category for the Indian urban market.
Voonik basically is a marketplace where the retail stores register and get to showcase their products. Voonik brings multiple online stores into a single cart. So it showcases product ranges from stores like Jabong, Snapdeal, Fashionara, Fashionandyou, Yepme, Zovi, etc.
Revenue Model
The revenue model of Voonik is generated by charging a 15 percent commission on every sale to the brand or the seller. And the deliveries are done by a third-party logistics partner.
Voonik – Funding and Investors
Voonik has raised a Total Funding of $34.5 Million till date.
Here is the Vooniks Funding Details:
Date
Amount
Round
Investors
February 2014
$500k
Seed
SeedFund
June 2015
$5 Million (~Rs 32 crores)
Series A
Sequoia Capital, SeedFund
June 2016
$20 Million
Series B
Sequoia Capital India
July 2016
$3 Million
Debt
InnoVen Capital
February 2017
$6 Million
Series C
RB Investments Pte. Ltd.
Voonik – Startup Challenges
Costly Shipping
Our biggest challenge for Voonik in the initial days was extremely costly shipping. It was particularly losing money on every shipment. And so the venture decided to work on projects where the team observed shipping across each category.
They eventually came up with the right algorithms through permutations and combinations to make shipments more cost-efficient. And soon after, Voonik had a 20% gross margin on shipping.
Marketing
The second-biggest cost driver for Voonik wasmarketing. Apparently, to save recurring overheads, it stopped focusing on traditional channels like Facebook and Google.
Instead, Voonik approached innovative channels for marketing to make money immediately. One of these initiatives was referral programs that allowed Voonik to make money from the very first transaction.
Online fashion space is as crowded as it can get. New players are coming in fashion industry. And now with Instagram and its buzz, it has become very easy for people to sell fashion apparel online.
Given that, thereâs so much happening out there in the online fashion zone. Be it creative concepts like style cracker who customly assigns stylists to its customers to make a box of accessories paired with the dress. Be it bag fashion portals like Myntra and Shein, all of these along with Voonik are competing neck to neck to cater to the same audience.
Voonik – Acquisitions and Mergers
TrialKart
Voonik acqui-hired TrialKart in 2015. TrailKart is a mobile platform providing a virtual dressing room experience to the users.
Getsty
In 2016, Voonik acquired Getsty which is a personalized shopping portal for men.
Vilara
In June 2016, Voonik stepped into the premium e-commerce segment by launching Vilara.
Dekkoh
In September of 2016, Voonik undertook an acquisition of Dekkoh which was a personalization and styling app.
Dekkoh
Voonik did not stop here. It has also acqui-hired three startups, Zohraa, Picksilk.com, and Style, to further build the platform and taking it deep towards personalization by adding more and more personal stylists and connecting them with its users through a chat-based app.
ShopUp
According to the reports in February 2020, Vooniks B2B business was merged with Bangladesh-based startup ShopUp. ShopUp is a platform that helps businesses go online. It enables e-commerce, store, logistics, sourcing, marketing and working capital requirements.
Schoolay
On February 2020, Vooniks B2C business was merged with kids activewear startup Schoolay.
Voonik – Growth and Revenue
Voonik reported 264% jump from losses of Rs 17.63 crore (FY19) to the Net Profits of Rs 28.7 crore (FY20)
Voonik had a revenue of Rs 44.76 crore in FY20 as compared to FY19 i.e Rs 21.45 crore
Voonik had over 10,000 downloads in the first month with an average rating of 4.7.
Today, it has over 20 Mn registered users
Total 17 million application downloads
Close to 2 million unique visitors per month
Displays more than 15 Lakh products from 22,000 sellers.
Caters to an average of 20,000 daily orders
Currently has a rating of 4.1 at Google Play Store.
Voonik – Awards
2014 – Voonik was amongst the Microsoft Ventures Indiaâs list of 16 startups for its summer batch of the accelerator program.
Voonik has big plans of taking onboard offline boutiques and launching chat-based features. Currently, the app is only giving recommendations to the customers, but the users are not able to chat with the stylists. Hence their main priority in the long term plan is to take personalization to the highest level on Voonik.
Voonik – FAQs
Who are the Founders of Voonik?
Sujayath Ali and Navaneetha Krishnan are the founders of Voonik.
How much is Voonik Funding?
Voonik has raised a total funding of $34.5 Million till date.
How much is Voonik’s Revenue?
Voonik reported 264% jump from losses of Rs 17.63 crore (FY19) to the Net Profits of Rs 28.7 crore (FY20).
How does Voonik make money?
Voonik basically is a marketplace where the retail stores register and get to showcase their products. The revenue for Voonik is generated by charging a 15% commission on every sale to the brand or the seller.
What is Voonik store?
Voonik is an online marketplace operating in products for women’s fashion.
The Indian handicrafts sector provides livelihoods to millions of people around the country, especially women. However, linking small-scale rural producers to urban and global markets has been a challenge. Efficiently connecting buyers and sellers in the handicrafts and handmade clothing market could have an exponential impact by improving the incomes of the poor and help preserve crafts that are rapidly disappearing. CraftsVilla.com is aiming to do exactly that, using the power of the Internet.
In a world full of trends, being a classic is what Craftsvilla is all about.Selling ethnic apparel and accessories on its online portal since 2011, Craftsvilla was launched by Manoj Gupta and Monica Gupta.
Craftsvilla is essentially an e-commerce portal based out of India that mainly sells ethnic items for women like ethnic apparel, ethnic footwear, ethnic fashion accessories, ethnic handcrafted home accessories, and ethnic fashion and lifestyle products along with other parallel industry products like beauty products.
Founded in 2011 by Monica & Manoj Gupta, Craftsvilla is an online marketplace for unique handmade, handcrafted, organic, and gift items. The startup claims to have over 25,000 sellers on its platform, selling close to 3.5 Million products.
The platform aggregates artisans, designers, and retailers from all around the country on a single platform and directly connects local artisans and designers to global customers over the world. Also, this startup over all these years has launched several in-house brands namely Anuswara, Avanya, and Jharokha, all in the affordable and classy ethnic and handloom segment.
Craftsvilla – Products and Services
Craftsvilla ship globally and itâs free for goods worth more than $250. The startup claims to have over 25,000 artisans and designers selling over 4 million products. The products are categorized into different segments like Jewellery, Handbags, Home DĂŠcor, Clothing, Food & Health, and Footwear etc., each further divided into sub segments.
About 80% of the buyers are women. The push has been to revive handicrafts and make it conveniently accessible. They try to keep things colorful and lively and that attracts the 18-35 age group buyers. More than 50% of the orders come from Tier 2 cities. And as it is with e-commerce portals in India, 50% of sales are Cash On Delivery (COD).
Here are some examples of what you can expect on Craftsvilla:
The collection of Gowns is an ode to fusion friendly fashion and perfect for all sorts of occasions.
Their drape collection is quite enviable as it includes a plethora of styles including, Printed, Traditional, Designer Sarees and fabrics like Cotton, Satin, Art Silk and Georgette Saree.
They have new and novel collection of Kurtis full of embellished styles, embroidered kinds and hues of every kind.
There are times when you need an ethnic ensemble that is not only trendy but also timeless in terms of style, splendour and a perfect fit for that special occasion. Thatâs where their latest range of Lehengas comes in! From Net Lehenga Cholis to hip and happening co-ordinate Designer Lehenga Sets, Craftsvilla have it all!
Complete with traditional kinds like Silver, Golden Plated and Oxidised, their collections of Earrings and neckpieces have something for everyone, right from statement making to subtlety sensational ones.
Craftsvilla – Founders and Team
The founders of Craftsvilla are Manoj Gupta and Monica Gupta.
Monica Gupta and Manoj Gupta
Manoj Gupta, Founder and CEO – He is an IIM graduate and a venture capitalist, founded Dreams Early Stage Fund and was Board Observer at Snapdeal before launching Craftsvilla. Prior to Craftsvilla.com, Manoj was Principal at Nexus Venture Partners where he invested in ecommerce companies in India. Manoj has also started a Tech company in San Diego, US from 2001-2006.
Monica Gupta, Founder and COO – She is graduated from San Diego State University.
How was Craftsvilla Started?
The idea for Craftsvilla struck the couple during their visit to Kutch, the hub of ethnic apparel and accessories. They saw supply in abundance with no channelized demand segregation and a portal that could connect the suppliers and the buyers not just in India, but globally. This is exactly how Craftsvilla was born.
Following this, the company was launched by Manoj Gupta and Monica Gupta in 2011 with funding from Nexus Venture Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Initially, this ethnic-focused startup was incepted with 80 employees and 5 offices across the country.
But it so happened that by 2012, this venture completely exhausted the entire amount of INR 10 crore series-A funding. And due to this, the company had to downsize to an only 10-member team and carried their business operations in a small one-room office.
With the downsizing coming too early for Craftsvilla, if it was anybody other than Manoj Gupta, theyâd have easily given up. But not the Craftsvilla founder. He kept faith in himself, in his idea, and his passionate team of 8. And in just a short span of 5 years, this ethnic fashion portal, Craftsvilla went from an allegedly failed startup to a big-named company with a huge valuation of $250 million with more than 4 million products in its inventory.
Craftsvilla – Business Model and Reveue Model
The business model of Craftsvilla majorly focuses on removing middlemen from the supply chain mechanism and increasing the livelihood of local artisans and cultured designers to help them create/promote their brand, with preserving the Indian culture, traditions, and values in a broader picture. In current times, the company charges a 20% commission on every transaction which excludes service tax.
Craftsvilla – Funding and Investors
Their latest funding was raised on Mar 20, 2020 from a Venture – Series Unknown round.
Here is a list of all the funding rounds of Craftsvilla:
Normally, entrepreneurs face challenges after the inceptions of their startups. This was not the case with Manoj Gupta. He faced the most crucial challenges right before launching Craftsvilla. It so happened that when Manoj presented his idea of launching an online portal that would sell ethnic stuff to his friends and family, he, unfortunately, received a lot of unenthusiastic feedback relating to it.
Most of his acquaintances pointed out that there is no real market for ethnic fashion wear and there clearly hasnât been a successful replica of it in the industry across the globe. But Manoj was firm on his idea and despite negative response, Manoj believed in his entrepreneurial idea and the potential that he saw in the untapped market filled with opportunities. Later in the same year, he went ahead and launched Craftsvilla with his wife.
Craftsvilla – Name, Tagline and Logo
Craftsvilla has a tagline. âThe Marketplace to discover Indiaâ. This tagline goes perfectly with the site, because it has huge range of Indian products & almost all the products are made keeping in mind the Indian craft & culture.
Craftsvilla Logo
Craftsvilla – Competitors
There are a lot of e-commerce portals in the country that deal with ethnic fashion and lifestyle products combined with other western and beauty products. Hence Craftsvilla competes with big and small online marketplaces like Myntra, LimeRoad, Voonik, Amazon, Flipkart, and Fabindia among many others.
Craftsvilla has more than 62 outlets in total across India in cities such as Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Kolhapur, Coimbatore, Delhi, Chandigarh, and Varanasi.
This ethnic fashion and lifestyle online marketplace is pegged at around $300â500 million in size.
It claims to have over 25,000 artisans and designers on board.
Craftsvilla currently is selling over 4 million products.
Craftsvilla – Revenue
In FY18, Craftsvillaâs revenues spiked by 3.6% from Rs 30.35 crore in FY17 to Rs 31.45 crore. Â The expenses from Rs 116.33 crore to Rs 59.13 crore. Losses followed the pattern and decreased from Rs 85.98 crore to Rs 27.68 crore.
Craftsvilla – Acquisitions
Craftsvilla acquired 3 organisations – F2SO4, Place Of Origin and Sendd.
Acquired
Date
Amount
Sendd
January 2016
$4.5 Million
Place of Origin
February 2016
–
F2SO4
April 2016
–
Place of Origin is an online retailer of ethnic food curated from sellers around the country. The online platform currently offers a range of products, from sweets and confectionary to local snacks and health food sourced directly from sellers across several cities.
Chandigarh-based F2SO4 was founded in 2015 by Delhi-based IIT alumni, Amrit Singh and Sachin Goel along with Partik Bhuchar. The startup was an app-based venture that offered branded and high-end designer clothes on rent. The startup was earlier bootstrapped and was founded as an apparel-as-a-service platform.
For the future goals, Craftsvilla is aiming straight on pushing its offline foray. For the same, the venture is also planning to invest INR 100 crore to open more than 1,000 outlets in the coming years.
Craftsvilla – Partners
Craftsvilla has tied up with the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, for e-marketing of handloom products from small weavers. As per this agreement, Craftsvilla has tied up with Weavesmart, an online marketplace that offers handloom weaves from across India.
Craftsvilla – FAQs
Who is Monica Gupta?
The founders of Craftsvilla are Manoj Gupta and Monica Gupta.
What is Craftsvilla?
Craftsvilla is essentially an e-commerce portal based out of India that mainly sells ethnic items for women like ethnic apparel, ethnic footwear, ethnic fashion accessories, ethnic handcrafted home accessories, and ethnic fashion and lifestyle products along with other parallel industry products like beauty products.
What is the Tagline of Craftsvilla?
“MarketPlace to Discover India”
What is the Business Model of Craftsvilla?
The business model of Craftsvilla majorly focuses on removing middlemen from the supply chain mechanism and increasing the livelihood of local artisans and cultured designers to help them create/promote their brand, with preserving the Indian culture, traditions, and values in a broader picture.
Dropshipping and eCommerce goes hand in hand and have turned out to be gold for all those who are now sitting at home. It is one of the best opportunities to make money online with your own social media account. One of the fastest ways to market is to use Facebook ads manager for dropshippingbusiness. So, the question is, how to start dropshipping on Facebook.
Many are in a great deal of stress that they are putting more effort on Facebook ads vs Google ads for dropshipping so they rely on the organic traffic of Google. It might have worked a few times earlier, but promoting your online stores through Google ads is just futile. I mean if someone really wants to buy your product, then they will automatically go to Google but that isnât scalable like Facebook is.
Facebook is the largest social network with 2.6 billion active monthly users so you can see how Facebook ads help your upcoming business. Facebook Marketing is easily scalable because its something you put in front of a few customers and can scale up to millions from them. It is never about creating just an ad but creating a successful Facebook ad. Here are the tips to use facebook ads manager for dropshipping business.
Create visuals with videos and high-quality images from Canva or alike.
Use a Multi-Product Carousel.
Facebook Offers and giveaways can be a perk.
Target a price point.
Stop Selling! Not every ad is about Sales.
Call-To-Action Lead for Customers.
Target your website viewers and build communication with them through emails.
Target people based on various categories in the process of buying something.
4 Steps to Facebook Ads To Include Your Sales:
1. Set Up A Facebook Pixel
Setting up a facebook pixel is the most important step for a headstart to your campaignâs success. You can âCreate a Pixelâ from facebook ads manager or else facebook will automatically generate it. You can view your Pixel Code with the help of your Pixel ID from Shopify store Admin page, so you can search your Shopify Account within the store preferences.
2. Create An Ad
Create a new ad account to spread your brand awareness and reach out to people. Try increasing a lot of traffic on your online store with a minimum of 300k at first to get results within the geography too. Before that, set up your Facebook Ads Manager account first to hit the advertising campaign for the first time itself. You should consider optimization tips for impression and if you really want to dig further, create an âAdd To Cartâ option in spite of no actual purchase. This seems to be not very normal at first but believe me, this is a magnet for shoppers.
Tip: Using âAll Ad Setsâ can give you a more detailed version of your Shopâs Performance. This helps you promote your business on facebook.
Facebook Ad Optimization Tool
3. On-Going Ad Check-Up
You have to measure the success of your campaign. Always keep a check on important features, like CPA(Cost Per Action). You should always pay attention to it because keeping it high at first would let Facebook optimize your campaigns with time. This might look like a poor plan but this is going to make your business profitable. CTR: When these numerals go down, it means that your feed is being skipped. Frequency will tell you the views on your ad gains and this helps you look onto the bigger audience your ad currently is for instance which age group your ad directs to.
4. Optimization
Optimization is the key to get the best results for ads campaigns. Look for the best age group and keep your entire budget according to that. Selecting geography to target your ad could be time-consuming but you just have to avoid targeting several different countries. This could even lead to dragging the performance of the ad set down.
Facebook Campaign Optimization
Basic Model of Dropshipping
Learning about dropshipping is fun but there could millions of doubts about it. The supply chain is a fancy term to dropshipping. You have to learn that it is a special type of retail method where you donât have to actually stock products. Instead, just direct those sales to a shop who actually sells it because, with the help of the dropshipping model, it buys products from a third party and gets it shipped directly to the buyer.
The basic model is that seller buys inventory as needed from a third party to complete the orders. It basically acts as product curators with a mix of items to target marketing with customers.
Basic model of dropshipping
Reasons Why Dropshipping is a Popular Model:
Less Capital is required which is the biggest advantage of dropshipping.
Facebook ad shipping is easily scalable in comparison to traditional e-commerce businesses.
It is easy to get started because at the end of the day you donât have to stock items or take care of your shops. You just have to track inventory for accounting and handle shipments.
Since you donât need to stock the items but just offer an array of trending products to your existing customers. You can sell it directly with no additional cost.
The basic key to facebook ad dropshipping is to approach like any other online business but just not get caught up in the cycle of being overpaid. Since there is no magic to it, so you just have to approach in a different way while making a facebook ad.
Using Facebook Ads for dropshipping can work a great deal if you innovate with time. It is one of the swiftest routes to marketing. All of this is an ultimate guide to facebook ads for dropshipping. If you work properly, then you can be a professional businessman on an eCommerce block who actually knows how to automate sales.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
Do Facebook ads work for dropshipping?
Definitely! It is a powerful combo but you have to keep an eye out on your ad strategy and continuously innovate when it comes to product curation, and keep your customer experience at a consistently high level.
Do Facebook ads work for Shopify?
Yes, if you are using Shopify, you can add the Facebook sales channel and sync products seamlessly to your ad account.
Can you dropship without ads?
Yes, you can. But the results won’t be as great as with ads.
Gorish Dua
